Frame story

frame story, also called frame tale,
overall unifying story within which one or more tales are related.

“Jataka”: bodhisattva as a deer, 2nd century bcCourtesy of Indian Museum, KolkataIn the single story, the opening and closing constitutes a frame. In the cyclical frame story—that is, a story in which several tales are related—some frames are externally imposed and only loosely bind the diversified stories. For example, in The Thousand and One Nights, the frame consists of the story of Scheherazade, who avoids death by telling her king-husband a story every night and leaving it incomplete. Another example is the Jātakaṭṭhavaṇṇanā, a collection of some 550 widely popular and often illustrated stories ... (100 of 244 words)